The Unusual Life Of Tristan Smith

Description

The first Penguin edition of Peter Carey's The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, with a cover by Michael Leunig Severely afflicted, doomed never to be taller than three foot six, Tristan Smith faces death and danger from the first moment of his energetic and ambitious life. Here, for the first time, is the truth about him, from his birth in the Republic of Efica in the year 371 to the present day. When he goes on trial for multiple offences in Voorstand, a nation of rampaging global dominance, Tristan must plead his case to the very culture that has done for his own. Peter Carey's piercing allegory of imperialism is unmatched for originality and inventiveness. Carey ...has outdone himself in this bizarre, uncannily strange dystopia about the life of a dwarf ...George Orwell and Lewis Carroll wrapped into one.' Publishers Weekly 'Irresistible ...intimate and theatrical ...supple and surprising ...We're in the hands of a master storyteller.' Carol Shields 'Savage and hilarious ...dazzling.' New York Review of Books

Author description

Peter Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and now lives in New York. He is the author of thirteen novels (including one for children), two volumes of short stories, and two books on travel. Amongst other prizes, Carey has won the Booker Prize twice (for Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang), the Commonwealth Writers' Prize twice (for Jack Maggs and True History of the Kelly Gang), and the Miles Franklin Literary Award three times (for Bliss, Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs). His most recent novels are Parrot and Olivier in America and The Chemistry of Tears.